The night was silent, but the full moon burned bright, crimson and dangerous. My heart pounded as I ran through the cold forest, branches clawing at my arms. My pack… had turned against me.
"You are weak. You will never be one of us," they spat, their eyes full of contempt.
Fear didn't grip me yet, though. Something deep inside stirred… something I didn't understand. Then a shadow fell across my path.
Tall. Dark. Impossible. He stood there — the Alpha. The one who had rejected me, whose glance alone once made my knees tremble.
His eyes, molten gold in the moonlight, locked onto mine. "You belong to me," he said, voice low, dangerous, commanding.
My blood screamed in response, heat and power rising from somewhere deep within me. The forest seemed to hold its breath. The wind whispered my name.
And just like that, I knew my life was no longer mine.
A guttural growl echoed behind me. Another Alpha? Or… something far worse? I froze. The moonlight reflected off his eyes again, and I realized — I couldn't run. And maybe… I didn't want to.
..... Something unseen circled us in the shadows, waiting, hungry… and it knew my name.